> > I said not long ago that running windows on FreeDOS is not a real test,
> it would be a test, and it would fail. FreeDOS kernel isn't compatible
> enough to run Windows 3.x
> end of story.
Hm. Then why does Windows 3.1 "win /s" run, except DOS boxes, for me?
I see that there is not much ongoing work to make DOS boxes or 386 mode
("win /3") or WfW 3.11 (which runs 386 mode all the time except when you
start it in something which could be called "safe mode", very limited)
work any soon, though. No problem, I use Wine to run Windows apps anyway.
Others might be using ReactOS anyway.
> > let me explain why: Windows at some point included some very complicated
> > locking mechanism to *avoid* windows running other DOSes.
> plain wrong.
No, Mr. "Bitter Tom". You forgot about AARD: Because DR-DOS was far
better than MS DOS around 1990, MS spread fear, uncertainity and doubt
about DR DOS / Windows 3.1 compatibility. They have hidden AARD, which
could be called "DOS brand fingerprinting" (at least it does not test
for actual Windows compatibility) in beta versions of Windows 3.1 to
support their claim - DR DOS failed the test and caused an odd error
message, which MS helpdesks could explain as "we told you that DR DOS
is not compatible". So all people who wanted the 3.1 goodies (Sound and
screensavers, what else?) were pushed towards MS DOS. The scandal came
about 1992 / 1993, and as far as I remember, MS got sued for this FUD
and had to give DR/Novell information to improve compatibility. But by
then everybody had already bought MS DOS for their Win 3.1 / WfW 3.11...
http://www.freedos.org/freedos/news/newsitem/135.txt
Note that final versions of Windows 3.1 no longer produce an error
message if a DOS fails the AARD. In addition, FreeDOS and all newer
DR DOS versions pass the (by now well documented) AARD test anyway.
AARD is not very complicated but it smells strongly like intentional
incompatibility. And MS has tried to hide the code in the binaries.
Eric
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